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10/27/11

Ride In 10/27

It's easy to know what to wear when it's very hot or very cold, but on intermediate days like today, a day when it was also raining (sort of), I was befuddled in my choice of attire. Jacket to ward off rain, but would that make me too hot? Tights to keep my legs warm? Certainly not a hat or gloves, right? In some ways, I'm looking forward to colder temperatures so at least I know that there's no mystery in what to wear, namely as much as possible. I ended up wearing slightly more coverage than was totally necessary, but not too much, so it sort of worked out.
Barely anyone out on the road today. I'm not even sure that it was raining, at least not consistently. There were more people by the time I got closer to downtown, but the Hill-izens (what is one called if they live on Capitol Hill? Only non-pejorative names, please) appeared to sit today out. My bike decided to reward me for my decision to ride with a really smooth and easy trip. The wheels seemed to turn with less effort, the handling was generally better and I felt lighter and better in the legs than usual. As someone who rides every day, I seem to experience a lot of variability in the way I feel when I commute. It's odd. I pretty much follow the same morning routine, carry about the same stuff on my bike and take essentially the same route, but some days just feel a lot better than others. Was it the extra cup of coffee? Waking up a little earlier? Blood doping?

Leaf cyclists alone.

Seriously? That's four neatly bunched piles of leaves spaced every 30 feet in the 15th street cycletrack leaf depository lane. If you have any doubts that cyclists are treated with less attention than motorists (and seriously, would you?), just ask yourself someone would stack piles of leaves in the middle of the travel lane and ask drivers to pull around to avoid them.
Caution tape is still down. I'm cautiously optimistic that this will remain the case. Maybe I should make a caution tape sash to show my cautious optimism. I'd be the French mayor of needless prohibition against cycling.
Some people get really, really angry when driving. I wonder if they realize that we can see them cursing up a storm through their windows. I'm not the best lip reader, but I'm pretty sure I can spot a "F-ing go! GO! GO! F-ing MOVE! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGHHHHH" when I see one. That's a lot of rage. I guess that why they call it a Rage Rover. Wait, it's called a Range Rover? Oh. Nevermind.
Almost no other bicyclists on R street and, per usual, no one else riding up Massachusetts. I can't say that I mind the solitude. At least, I didn't mind it today. PROGRAMMING ALERT: I have a social obligation this evening (a kitty cat bat mitzah. Meow-zel tov!) and I don't know if I'll get tonight's post up until tomorrow. Just in case, there's lots of other good stuff on the internet to read, like this on "pathletes."